Would this be better than the onboard MSI motherboard z87-g45 soundcard?
2697
What makes this card awesome is the amount of settings you can change, I used this to fuel the razer tiamats 7.1, a very missunderstood headset, because it needs a great sound card, I have a intel xtreme series motherboard with the newest realteck sound chip, and if you just install the xonar with the regular drivers, there will be no diference, but if you install the unidriver, and move some settings, then this xonar card will blow your mind I guarantee it, I have a very extended review on the tiamats paired with this sound card, if u want it, just tell me, but if you just dont want to read that mouch, Im pretty sure that you will love this card over the integrated you own
2698
never having had your onboard program I can't give an experienced answer, all I can say is I think it is a lot better than anything I have seen for the money.
2699
Your board has Soundblaster cinema onboard. If you get the right software for that, it will be fine. It has a very decent onboard amp that is capable of driving headphones, and you won't find a significant difference in quality here. If you are getting any sort of hum, whine, static, or other noise when using the analog outs, you will probably get that with the Asus card also. In that case, you can use the optical digital out and use a decent DAC like the Fiio D3 or E3.
2700
What makes this card awesome is the amount of settings you can change, I used this to fuel the razer tiamats 7.1, a very missunderstood headset, because it needs a great sound card, I have a intel xtreme series motherboard with the newest realteck sound chip, and if you just install the xonar with the regular drivers, there will be no diference, but if you install the unidriver, and move some settings, then this xonar card will blow your mind I guarantee it, I have a very extended review on the tiamats paired with this sound card, if u want it, just tell me, but if you just dont want to read that mouch, Im pretty sure that you will love this card over the integrated you own What makes this card awesome is the amount of settings you can change, I used this to fuel the razer tiamats 7.1, a very missunderstood headset, because it needs a great sound card, I have a intel xtreme series motherboard with the newest realteck sound chip, and if you just install the xonar with the regular drivers, there will be no diference, but if you install the unidriver, and move some settings, then this xonar card will blow your mind I guarantee it, I have a very extended review on the tiamats paired with this sound card, if u want it, just tell me, but if you just dont want to... » Read More What makes this card awesome is the amount of settings you can change, I used this to fuel the razer tiamats 7.1, a very missunderstood headset, because it needs a great sound card, I have a intel xtreme series motherboard with the newest realteck sound chip, and if you just install the xonar with the regular drivers, there will be no diference, but if you install the unidriver, and move some settings, then this xonar card will blow your mind I guarantee it, I have a very extended review on the tiamats paired with this sound card, if u want it, just tell me, but if you just dont want to read that mouch, Im pretty sure that you will love this card over the integrated you own « Show Less
292602
From what I have read, better speakers would be a better investment before changing the sound card. Have a look at this forum.http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/58378-6-speakers-sound-card
996718
I highly recommend the MSI Z97 Gaming 7 board. For what it gives you, the price is unbeatable, and it's the best I've owned.
1988054
From what I remember, the Maximus had a better audio chipset, and I think it supports 32GB RAM. Here's a comparison - http://www.asus.com/us/site/motherboards/Z97/comparison/. Maximus didn't offer anything I really cared about over Z97I-plus, and from what it sounds like, it should be fine for you as well.
1990258
The quality of a sound card you may want will depend on the quality of the onboard sound your computer has. Recent and/or high end MOBOs have pretty decent onboard sound now and you would have to spend at least $150-$200 on a sound card to see any improvement. I got an ASUS Xonar Essence STX to power my SP2500 and the improvement over the onboard sound on my P9X79 WS MOBO, which had pretty good sound already, while nothing to sneeze at, still wasn't huge.
1081397
The onboard sound will work with that headset yes, but in almost every situation I'd recommend using a third party PCI-E card for sound if quality is your concern.
1990259
I'm using the sound blaster z and it sounds great. I don't know of a cheaper card. Check newegg.com and read peoples reviews.
1906585
No, boards like these are never as efficient as having a motherboard with an embedded interface. That said, there are speed improvements - See my posting for the speed increases I saw.
286931
I recently purchased two different ASUS mother boards. Either one fits the description of your board. Bothboards have the main chipset with 8 channel high def audio. I am not aware of any recent boards using audioon a card; however, you can add a sound card if you prefer to any system wether it has built in audio or not.
1676593
This works with build in soundcards, but if you want better quality a dedicated sound card will make it better.
1671782
Yea I have the asus xonar Dx it's great once you get a sound card there's no going back. Unless you get a rog board those have great sound cards on board the mobo
292598
Well as with anything sound/audiophile the saying is "it all comes out in the end" which is to say you can have the best sound card in your computer, digital to analog converter and desktop tube amp, but they will only sound as good as the speakers the sound is coming out of. The same can be said for the whole chain really. On board sound and amplifiers aren't typically where motherboard manufactures invest serious R&D; money. So yeah start with speakers and work your way back to the source.
957742
This sound card will not optimize your on board sound. It will take over as your new sound output device. I like my Xonar Essence STX's sound output better than my on-board sound. A lot of reviewers will say that today's existing HD on-board sound is so good that you wouldn't notice the difference. I promise you, you will. This card has a built-in headphone amp. With this you use the higher end headphones that require more power than a motherboard headphone jack. I do not regret purchasing mine. I bought it right here on Amazon. I also bought my pc speakers (Klipsh ProMedia 2.1) and headphone (Audio-Technica ATH M50) here on Amazon also. I couldn't be happier. This sound card will not optimize your on board sound. It will take over as your new sound output device. I like my Xonar Essence STX's sound output better than my on-board sound. A lot of reviewers will say that today's existing HD on-board sound is so good that you wouldn't notice the difference. I promise you, you will. This card has a built-in headphone amp. With this you use the higher end headphones that require more power than a motherboard headphone jack. I do not regret purchasing mine. I bought it right here on Amazon. I also bought my pc speakers (Klipsh ProMedia 2.1) and... » Read More This sound card will not optimize your on board sound. It will take over as your new sound output device. I like my Xonar Essence STX's sound output better than my on-board sound. A lot of reviewers will say that today's existing HD on-board sound is so good that you wouldn't notice the difference. I promise you, you will. This card has a built-in headphone amp. With this you use the higher end headphones that require more power than a motherboard headphone jack. I do not regret purchasing mine. I bought it right here on Amazon. I also bought my pc speakers (Klipsh ProMedia 2.1) and headphone (Audio-Technica ATH M50) here on Amazon also. I couldn't be happier. « Show Less
1405159
It will bypass all internal audio components. I wouldn't call it an improvement over most integrated audio, but for a laptop with bad onboard you would definitely hear an improvement.
27344
I'm currently using Schiit Magni - Modi combo ($200) after my ST. If you ask me I'll go that route, it's sound better to my ears and I don't have to depend on a PC with an extra PCI lane for the sound card. It was a pain finding a mATX mobo with a PCI slot and even more with room for a two slot GPU. In the end the ST was causing overheat on my GPU, and after deciding I wanted to go mITX there was nothing else to think about.
1674580
The pci slot will work but that looks like a small board and this is a huge card so I'm worried that it'll block the memory slots and might even hit the audio out puts. What cpu are you using (fm2) most new cpus are fm3 fm3+ so you might be throttling the card with a weaker cpu.
1671781
I have speakers attached to the motherboard and I really don't think you'll be able to tell any difference in the quality of the sound.